A far third choice in the lean five-horse field, Indy’s Quest struggled in the early going of the 900-meter race, falling behind by five-six lengths as speedsters Art of Rose, D’Raven, Tigra and Blink & Wink battled it out fiercely in front.
But as the pack swung for home, Indy’s Quest, behind the efficient handling of jockey Jeffril Zarate, suddenly came into the picture with the bay filly by Rindy Indy out of Conquistador Quest rushing up four-wide to grab the lead before galloping home to the victory.
She clocked 54.5 seconds in ruling the kickoff leg of this year’s series for the juvenile fillies with the owners of the P/T Stable and Farm bagging the top purse of P240,000.
Earlier, Golden Ballet lived up to her pre-race hype as she ruled the Sweepstakes race and won the guaranteed prize of P300,000 for owner LC Almeda, Jr. – Ramon Romualdez